MEMORIAL TO THE KING.

It had been calculated that a Transit of Venus would occur in 1769, observations of which would be of great importance to astronomical science, and several of the European nations, notably Russia, were intending to establish points of observation. The Royal Society decided that as England had hitherto taken a lead in astronomy, she should not now fall behind, and appointed a committee to report on the places where it would be desirable to take observations, the methods to be pursued, and the persons best fitted to carry out the work. This committee advised that two observers should be sent to Hudson's Bay, two to the South Pacific and, if Sweden did not send there, two to the North Cape. They also advised that the Government should be asked to supply a ship to convey the party to some island to be decided on in the South Seas, and several gentlemen were suggested as observers, Mr. Maskelyne, President of the Society, especially recommending Mr. Dalrymple as "a proper person to send to the South Seas, having a particular turn for discoveries, and being an able navigator and well skilled in observation." Mr. Maskelyne estimated the voyage would take about two years, and that a sum of ten shillings and six pence per day would be a reasonable allowance for expenses, together with a gratuity the amount of which was to be settled hereafter. A Memorial on the subject was prepared and forwarded to the King, setting forth that as a Transit of Venus over the Sun's disc was expected to occur, and that other nations were intending to take observations thereof in the interests of navigation, it would be desirable that as the British Nation had been justly celebrated for its knowledge of Astronomy, and an Englishman, Mr. Jeremiah Horrox, had been the first person who calculated the passage of the planet over the sun, in 1639, the Government should support the Royal Society in its attempt to take a proper position in the matter, by a grant of money and a ship to take a party to the South Seas. Four thousand pounds was the sum named, and on 24th March the President was able to inform the Council that the King had been pleased to order that it should be placed in his hands, "clear of fees," for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the expedition. In the end, after paying all accounts, there was a considerable balance left, which the King placed at the disposal of the Society, and a portion of it was expended on the bust of His Majesty, by Nollekins, now in its possession.

The gentlemen whose names had been suggested as observers were asked to appear before the Council if they were willing to accept the position, and Mr. Dalrymple wrote in reply to say there was only one part of the world where he would go to take observations, that was the South Seas, and he would only go if he had "the management of the ship intended for the service." Mr. Maskelyne told the Council he had recommended Mr. Dalrymple to the Admiralty for the command of the ship, the use of which had been granted, but had been informed that such an appointment would be "entirely repugnant to the regulations of the Navy." It is said that Sir Edward Hawke, having in his mind the disastrous result of giving Halley the command of a King's ship in 1698, when a serious mutiny occurred, positively refused to sign such a commission, saying that he would "rather cut off his right hand than permit any one but a King's officer to command one of the ships of His Majesty's Navy."

Dalrymple, originally a clerk in the East India Company's service, had spent some years trading amongst the islands of the Malay Archipelago and China, returned to England and published a couple of pamphlets on the East Indies, and in 1767 a book on the discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, which brought him to the notice of the Royal Society. He was afterwards for a time hydrographer to the East India Company, and was then appointed the first hydrographer to the Admiralty. He was dismissed from this position for exceeding his powers, and soon afterwards died. He appears to have been a clever man, but of an extremely overbearing disposition and a very high opinion of himself. In writing to Dr. Hawkesworth on one occasion, he said: "I never write on any subject I do not thoroughly understand." What makes the remark more interesting is that he was quite in the wrong on the subject under discussion. He appears never to have forgiven Cook for having been successful in obtaining the command of the expedition to observe the Transit of Venus, and for completely upsetting his pet theory of a large continent in the Southern Ocean.